FAKE MAKEUP! DANGERS!! MAC

Hey lovelies, Today im going to be talking about......

So my younger sister started getting into makeup a couple of months ago and came acorss a website were she bought some 'genuine mac makeup products'. Now me being into makeup I quickly became a bit reluctant and told her that they were probably counterfeit products.

Like most young teenagers, her and her friends didn't seem to mind as they thought they were getting high end products at low end prices, so she went ahead and placed an order.

Now, some people don't realise how dangerous counterfeit makeup can be. They contain different chemicals and toxins which can be dangerous to the skin, Like my sister, some people also don't know how to spot counterfeit makeup products so I thought I would do a post on some brands which are circling the internet at the moment.

Mac is one of the main counterfeit makeup products out there, people that use and buy from mac counters will be aware of what their products look like, along with the packaging and the naming of the cosmetics. However, new make up beginners may not be so aware and would more than likely snap up what they believe to be 'bargain makeup'.

One of the main things I would recommend you do is make yourself familiar with the brands collections, especially Mac.

Mac will never produce and eye shadow palette unless it is a part of a collection for example the holiday collection, wonder woman, hello kitty and so on... A more recent one being the Archies Girls collection.

This will help when looking at palette eyeshadows, Anything that looks like this;

FAKE

or this

Palette containing more than 4 eyeshadows and not in a round shape as well as an applicator is a fake product! All Mac shadows are round like the Veronica Palette below taken from the Archies Girls collection:

REAL

Although the fake shadows may be well pigmented and the colour pay off similar to that of a genuine mac shadow, because they are counterfeit we are unable to tell what chemicals and substances they are made up of, and may be harmful to your skin.

Sticking with the eyeshadow theme, a Single Mac authentic eyeshadow will look like this:

Notice how there is nothing else underneath where the lid lifts up, However, on most counterfeit mac eyeshadows there are a second compartment underneath were by an applicator is stored. This is another sign on how to pick up whether it is genuine or not, as by now you should know all Mac products do not come with an applicator unless they are apart of the holiday collection, and in this case will not look like this;

Left - Real, Right - FAKE!!

Eyeshadows covered, another large counterfeit Mac product is blusher.

Now all mac products come with names such as 'Desert Rose' or 'Peaches' were as counterfeit blushes tend to have numbers or codes. This is one way of knowing whether your blush is real or fake.
Here are some pictures of a fake Mac Blush my sister bought, without being introduced to the world of makeup.

Notice how there is chalk around the black casing of the blush, when it hasn't been used, the texture and feel of the blusher is noticeably different from that of a real mac blusher. As mentioned earlier fake blushers tend to have numbers instead of names, notice the bottom sticker 'M08'.

Another common counterfeit product is lipstick. Mac have hundreds of lipsticks, some are discontinued and are available on line and some are purely limited edition. However some lipsticks you can buy online such as 'limited edition' may be real but others may be fake. Now the packaging tends to be very good on fake lipsticks, but the labelling of the lipstick again is where they slip up. Ok so the lipstick might have the name of the finish such as lustre of frost, but will tend to have the number such as 'A038' wrote above the finish instead of printed under like a real lipstick would.

Here are some photos of 'mac lipsticks', one is a real mac lipstick and one is a fake.

The one on the left is fake and the one on the right is real.

The real visible difference between these two is the product name, the one on the left doesn't seem to have 'Mac' written on the lid, something which all Mac lipsticks do have. The bottom bullet (that holds the lipstick) is also a little fatter than the one on the right.

This photo shows the sticker on the bottom of the lipstick, the place were Mac names and labels the finish of the lipstick. The lipstick on the left the fake one is quite convincing as it is a 'viva glam' the brand from nicki and lady gaga, it also has the finish 'Lustre' and the so called name 'Cyndi' however it is in the wrong order. On a real lipstick such as the one on the right the finish is at the top in this case 'Satin' and the name is second 'Rebel'. Another thing wrong with the Mac lipstick on the left is the code at the bottom 'AA12' Mac lipsticks only have one letter before the number, as demonstrated by the lipstick on the right 'B62'.

Telling the difference between real and fake can sometimes be quite tricky, so my advice to anybody thinking of buying branded make-up online from places such as Ebay and amazon would be don't. You may be handing your money over for fake products, some which can be dangerous to your skin.